Older Female Protagonists

by Paula Gail Benson

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to see Oceans Eight, the new heist film featuring Sandra Bullock (age 53), Cate Blanchett (49), Anne Hathaway (35), Mindy Kaling (38), Sarah Pauling (43), Awkwafina (29), Rihanna (30), and Helena Bonham Carter (52). [Note: ages according to Wikipedia.]

Part of the joy was that a friend and I were treated to dinner and the show by her son, who called ahead for reservations (I didn’t know one could do that at a movie theatre) and made us feel like royalty. It was a charmed evening of excellent food, conversation, and entertainment.

From the moment the film began, I was completely captivated. The plot and characters were intriguing; the organization and execution of the heist riveting. For the first time in a long time, I lost myself in the dramatic situation, forgetting about the outside world.

Then, right at the end of the film, and let me warn POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT, the purloined jewels are redistributed by the services of four distinguished actresses, each of whom may boast an exceptional career on screen and stage: Marlo Thomas (80), Mary Louise Wilson (86), Dana Ivey (76), and Elizabeth Ashley (78). These actresses appeared in cameo shots and had no lines. Their eyes flashed with enthusiasm and they looked stunning.

Seeing them took me out of the story for a moment as I wondered: would I watch a movie about those women carrying out a heist, and would anyone ever make that movie?

In fact, the weekend before, I had gone alone to see The Book Club, which showcased Jane Fonda (80), Dianne Keaton (72), Candice Bergen (72), and Mary Steenburgen (65). When the club members read 50 Shades of Grey, they begin making some changes in their personal romantic lives, all with unexpected and humorous repercussions. The movie was predictable, but enjoyable, especially seeing the talented actresses assembled for the cast.

Glenda Jackson (82) just won the Tony award for playing a 90-year-old character in Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women on Broadway. Her co-star, Laurie Metcalf (63), also won a Tony. Brenda Blethen (72) plays a middle-aged detective in the British Crime series Vera and was celebrated as a guest of honor at this year’s Malice Domestic.

In January 2014, Fay Weldon wrote “Writers of a Certain Age” for the New York Times. She explained that while mature male characters retained reader and viewer attention, interest in female characters faded if they were older than their twenties or thirties. Weldon did hold out hope if a character could reach 80 and become “so old as to seem ageless, sexless as a sage, remarkable if not for youth, why, then, for extreme age, and again a salable proposition for publishers.”

Holly Robinson responded with “How Old Is Too Old for a Main Character?” in the Huffington Post. She wanted to refute Weldon’s premise, but when she pitched a novel about a character in her late fifties to her agent, she got a negative response. He told her, “Publishers don’t like older characters. You’d better start with the younger woman’s point of view.”

Growing up, I read about characters my own age, but when I reached high school and college, I found I preferred to read about older characters. The friendship between middle-aged Evelyn Couch and elderly Ninny Threadgoode in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes based on Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café is priceless to me. And, I wonder, what would the reading world be like without Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple?

Thanks to my blogging partners for the additional examples of characters portrayed by Helen Mirren (72), Judy Dench (83), and Maggie Smith (83), who as the Dowager Countess of Grantham had some of the best lines on Downton Abbey.

What do you think about older female protagonists, particularly in the mystery/thriller genres?